Of Farspooks And Spectres
by Giton
Summary: Play in One Act. Crais and Talyn find themselves in Hezrum. Will Talyn's and Crais' have been for naught?


_Disclaimer on punctuation and spacing: seems to take some out!_

_Disclaimer: "Farscape" is a protected trademark and I'm just borrowing the characters. I promise to give them back once I've used them, hopefully more or less intact._

_Ever woken up with a full Play in your mind? No? Lucky you!_

Title: Of Far Spooks And Spectres

Author: GitonCrais

Rating: General

Category: Play

Spoilers: Maybe

Keywords: Crais and Talyn find themselves in Hezrum

Summary: Will Talyn's and Crais' sacrifice have been for naught?

**Of Far Spooks And Spectres (A Play)**

By GitonCrais

**Characters:**

Captain Bialar Crais, first spectre

Talyn, second spectre

Cholok, third spectre or deity

**Setting:**

Hezmana, or maybe the other place. Boulders of various sizes to rest on

**Act I.**

(The stage is dark)

(Voice of Captain Bialar Crais off stage): Talyn... StarBurst!

(Flash of light off-stage. Slowly lights come on, silence for about a minute)

(Enter Crais from the right. His black clothes have been exchanged for grey)

CRAIS: What is this place? This doesn't look like Command.

(Enter Talyn from the left. He is the spitting image of Crais, only younger and with lighter hair)

TALYN: What is this place? It doesn't look like space.

(Crais starts turning to the newcomer)

CRAIS: I have already asked the same question and... (recognition) Talyn?

TALYN (grins): Hello, Crais. Yes, it is I. Do you like me like this? (slowly turns in a circle)

CRAIS (smiles): Yes, Talyn, although I had not expected to see you here...wherever 'here' is.

TALYN: Are we dead?

CRAIS (pauses before answering): I'm not sure.

(they look around but nothing changes)

TALYN: We could be dead.

CRAIS: Or dreaming. According to the Peacekeepers, there is no Afterlife.

TALYN: According to the Peacekeepers, you don't dream. You've proven them wrong more than once before.

CRAIS (frowns): If I am wrong, then maybe we are dead. (pokes Talyn in the side)

TALYN: Ouch! Why did you do that?

CRAIS (grins): If you were dead, you couldn't feel that.

TALYN (rubs side): Or maybe I'm just imagining that it hurts.

CRAIS (starts pacing): So, what are our options? We are dead and this is the Afterlife or whatever, which I don't believe in. We are alive and we StarBurst to another dimension, place and purpose still yet unknown. Or one of us is dreaming.

TALYN: Will you stop doing that?

CRAIS (looks up): Stop doing what?

TALYN: Pacing. It is really very annoying.

CRAIS: It helps me think.

TALYN: It annoys me.

CRAIS (stands still): I will try to keep that to a minimum.

TALYN: Thank you.

CRAIS: You are welcome.

(pause)

CRAIS: We still need to find out where we are and why we are here. Cholok only knows where we are.

(Enter Cholok, dressed in grey warrior's attire, his long hair flowing to the middle of his back)

CHOLOK: I thought you didn't believe in me.

(Crais turns and smiles sarcastically at Cholok)

CRAIS: I still don't believe in you. For all I know, you are merely a figment of my imagination.

CHOLOK: Crais... I am disappointed in you. So many times, I've pulled you out of danger. Saved you against all odds. Paved your path, made it smoother...

CRAIS (lets out a laugh): Smoother? Is that what you call it? Conscription? My brother... killed? On the run? Everyone distrusting me no matter what I do?

CHOLOK: Well, I couldn't make it look too easy.

CRAIS (starts pacing angrily): Easy? Easy! You don't know the meaning of the word!

TALYN/CHOLOK (in unison): Stop that.

CRAIS (stops pacing): My life has been anything but easy.

CHOLOK: All right...relatively easy.

(Crais throws his hands in the air, then sits down on a boulder)

CRAIS: I give up!

CHOLOK: You've never given up. Why now?

CRAIS: Manner of speech.

CHOLOK: Oh!

CRAIS: If you know so much, then you won't mind telling us where we are.

CHOLOK: You might find this hard to believe...

CRAIS: Try me!

CHOLOK: You are in Limbo...Hezrum, the place between Hezram and Hezmana.

CRAIS (sneers): Of course I am...we are. How could I not have recognised that immediately?

CHOLOK: It does exist, you know, whether you believe in it or not.

CRAIS (scowls): Evidently so.

TALYN: Why are we here?

CRAIS: If he is real, and if Hezrum actually exists, then we're probably dead.

CHOLOK: You needn't be so sarcastic. This place is real.

CRAIS: Of course...according to you.

TALYN: Can we go back to my question? Why are we here?

CHOLOK (turns to Talyn): You are dead...

CRAIS (mutters): Told you so.

CHOLOK: ...or to be more precise...very close to it.

(Crais gets up abruptly, hope and despair warring on his face. He grabs Cholok by the collar and draws him close)

CRAIS: If that is the truth, how do we reverse it?

CHOLOK (disentangles himself from Crais' grip): That is for me to decide.

CRAIS: Of course, merely a misunderstanding on my part.

TALYN: Don't mind Crais, he gets cranky when people try to make him believe in something he doesn't believe in. How will you decide?

CRAIS (turns to Talyn): I'm not...cranky!

CHOLOK (sits down): It depends on many factors.

(an audible groan is heard from Crais)

CHOLOK: Whether it is worthwhile to let you live. Whether you have worked for the common good.

CRAIS (under his breath): Not many would believe that. We're doomed!

CHOLOK: Whether you've lived a good life...

TALYN (stands besides Crais): I think you're right. We're frelled!

CRAIS (looks annoyed): Talyn!

TALYN: What difference does it make what language I use now? We're frelled anyway.

(Crais scowls)

CHOLOK (continues, undaunted): Whether your future path would be good.

CRAIS: I forgot. It's for you to decide.

CHOLOK: Now, let us start at the beginning. Did you work for the common good?

CRAIS: You seem to know us better than we do ourselves, so, you tell us.

(Crais places his hands behind his back, resisting the urge to pace)

CHOLOK: When you were with the Peacekeepers...

CRAIS: Against my own will.

CHOLOK: You committed many atrocities...

CRAIS: I was following orders from High Command.

CHOLOK: ...some of which looked suspiciously like personal vendettas.

CRAIS (lifts chin defiantly): Such as?

CHOLOK (arching an eyebrow): The Hynerian campaigns, for instance.

CRAIS (nostrils flaring): With good reason.

CHOLOK: The reason being?

(Crais starts pacing again)

TALYN/CHOLOK: Will you stop doing that!

CRAIS (continues pacing, much to the annoyance of the other two): If you are who you say you are, then you know what had been done to my detail by the Hynerians. Only a few survived, I amongst them, and even then, only barely. And you know what they did to my only friend. The physical abuse we suffered was extreme, by their standards or our own. It took me two weekens to recuperate enough to go after the ones who had done this to us...to me.

CHOLOK: Are you sure that you got the right Hynerians?

CRAIS (cruel smile on his face): Yes, I remembered them well. They were the right Hynerians.

CHOLOK: But to stuff their heads and keep them as trophies? Was that really necessary?

CRAIS: It felt right at the time. It also acted as a deterrent in future negotiations.

CHOLOK: You kept them long after the campaigns were over.

CRAIS (turning to Cholok): You are a god of war; surely you should understand.

CHOLOK: I must admit, you are one of my favourite followers in that respect, but to keep their heads for so long? Did they not deserve to be sent to their final rest?

CRAIS (scowls): No. As I said, it felt right at the time. Anything else?

CHOLOK: The Venek massacre...

CRAIS: The Veneks weren't your typical peace-loving enemy either

CHOLOK: ...after the truce?

CRAIS (shrugs his shoulder): They continued their revolt; I squashed it.

TALYN (mutters): We're frelled!

CRAIS (annoyed): Stop using Crichton's favourite word.

(Talyn grins)

CHOLOK: Ah, yes, Crichton...

CRAIS (taking a defensive pose): We have worked out our differences...more or less.

CHOLOK: Still, you pursued him...and the others...for nearly a cycle.

CRAIS: I was mad with grief at the time...

CHOLOK: Your temper seems to get in the way rather often.

CRAIS: I have finally learned to curb it...

CHOLOK: Have you, Crais?

(Cholok turns to Talyn)

CHOLOK: Has he curbed his temper?

TALYN (hesitates): Well, to an extent...

CHOLOK (triumphantly): See!

TALYN (looks guilty): It is I, actually, who seem to be losing my temper.

CHOLOK: because it was instilled in you by Crais.

CRAIS (rolls eyes): Of course that is my fault.

TALYN: I think we are both guilty of that crime.

CRAIS: Thank you, Talyn.

CHOLOK: To get back to Crichton...

CRAIS: Do we have to?

CHOLOK: Even after you stopped chasing him, you still didn't trust him.

CRAIS: Had he given me any reason to trust him?

CHOLOK: You even tried to kill him...

CRAIS (puzzled): When?

CHOLOK: When you were all trapped inside the Budong.

TALYN (grins sheepishly): That was me, actually.

CRAIS (mutters under his breath): Shows how all knowing you are.

CHOLOK: If Crais hadn't hated Crichton that much...

CRAIS: I have already told you; I don't hold him responsible for my brother's death anymore...

TALYN: Maybe it's true that my vision of Crichton was coloured by the way Crais saw him, but the desire to kill Crichton was my own idea.

CRAIS: Talyn was innocent. It was my own thoughts that were responsible for this. Leave him out of it.

CHOLOK: Very commendable that you try to protect each other.

(Both Crais and Talyn scowl in unison at Cholok, Crais steps forward to say something)

TALYN: Crichton took Aeryn away. She would have been ours...mine! He wanted to take Crais away from me, too. Crichton would have killed him, left him on that planet to die. He would have deprived me of the only one who truly cared for me, the one who taught me all that I knew, the one who protected me. He only stopped because he realized he couldn't pilot me himself, and he feared I would kill him as soon as he came back on board. That's all that kept him from killing Crais. And you are surprised that I wanted to kill him first?

(Talyn's voice rises during his speech, he's getting angrier)

TALYN: I'm the one who wanted to kill him, not Crais.

CHOLOK: Yet, you stopped when Aeryn explained to you why you shouldn't.

TALYN (calmer): She would have been completely lost to me if I hadn't. She had already blamed Crais for my actions. I couldn't let that happen.

CHOLOK: On Dam-ba-dah, you came to his rescue...

TALYN: Correction. I was foolish, and did not heed Crais' commands. I came to Crais' and Aeryn's rescue...not Crichton's.

CHOLOK: You were willing to sacrifice yourself and Crais to draw the Scarrans.

TALYN: Yes, it was the logical course of action. Crais explained it to me.

CHOLOK: You would follow Crais blindly?

CRAIS: No, he wouldn't. Had he done so, he would have listened to me more often.

TALYN: I agree. I do not follow him blindly, but if it is the only reasonable course of action...

CHOLOK: As you did in your last Starburst?

TALYN: Yes. I agreed with Crais. My mother would have been killed. My consciousness would have been wiped out. My engrams would have been erased. Crais would have been killed, and I would have been used as a Peacekeeper gunship and probably used to father more gunships, all of us mindless slaves to the Peacekeepers. I couldn't let that happen.

CRAIS: The Wormhole technology would have been made available to the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans. We would be looking at an all-out Galactic war. I had nobody left, except for Talyn, and he would have been erased too. My life was forfeit. I would have been executed in public, probably as part of a long extended execution. At least our deaths to keep the universe safe would have been quick. Talyn would have had a hero's death.

CHOLOK (smiles): And so would you, wouldn't you?

CRAIS (shakes his head): My death would likewise have been quick, but I doubt if anyone would have seen it as a hero's death. More like a traitor's, or possibly the last deed of an insane man. That was not about me; it was about Talyn. He didn't deserve to become Peacekeeper property.

(Crais sits down on one of the boulders)

CRAIS (sighs): Maybe it would be better if we stayed dead.

CHOLOK/TALYN: Why?

CRAIS (looks up): They would probably say that we...I...calculated all of this as part of the plan. That this was just a means to escape and leave the others to fend for themselves. Talyn would still be hunted down for his gunship abilities. He would know no rest. They would never accept his bravery in following me into the jaws of death to keep the rest of the universe safe.

(Talyn walks over to Crais and places a hand on his shoulder)

TALYN: I followed you into death because it was our last resort. I followed you, because I believed in you, and I believed that we could keep the universe safe. I don't care what the others think. Whether or not we survive, I know what we did and I know why we did it. We carry no blame.

(Crais places his hand on Talyn's and gives him that rare gentle smile that is reserved for only him)

CRAIS: I know, Talyn. I should not concern myself with what others think.

TALYN: No, you shouldn't...Father.

(Crais swallows deeply. He closes his eyes briefly to calm his emotions. When he looks up at Talyn once more, there is pride on his face)

CRAIS: You are the son I will never have. Thank you for being with me.

TALYN (smiles gently): The pleasure was always mine.

(silence for maybe half a minute)

CHOLOK (gets up): I think I can depend on your paths being clear...if I decide to let you live.

CRAIS (looks up): It doesn't matter what you decide. You can never take away this last moment. This, to me, is more precious than anything. I don't care what you believe you should do. We have lived our lives to the fullest, and have done what needed to be done.

(Crais looks at Talyn and then looks back at Cholok)

CRAIS: My life has been full of misdeeds, I admit, whether they were done on the orders of others, or through my own poor judgement. I have tried to be a different man since I took Talyn, but it will never fully erase the things I did before we joined with each other. If someone is to blame, then blame me. Talyn has been innocent of all that. If you decide that our lives are not worth saving, then take mine, but leave Talyn to live his. He deserves to live.

TALYN (keeps his hand on Crais' shoulder and looks in defiance to Cholok, then back at Crais): I would not want to live, knowing that your guiding hand is no longer there. If you leave Crais dead, then include me in that destiny too.

(Cholok looks at the two men, his face unreadable, then slowly a small smile appears)

CHOLOK: You have shown me my course of action. Valour will be rewarded...but you won't thank me for it.

(The stage goes dark)

(Voice of Captain Bialar Crais off stage): Talyn... StarBurst!

(Flash of light off-stage)

**THE END**

11


End file.
